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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Cross the next step off the list! Jack's immigration approval (called the I-800) came yesterday. This means that we have been approved by China and Jack has been approved by America! Now all of our documents will be sent to the National Visa Center in China where they will begin to process Jack's visa. This process is called "Article 5." We will keep you posted as we move through the Article 5 process.

Meanwhile, our visas are being processed here in America. We are still thinking somewhere between mid-November to mid-December for travel. We are so ready!

Speaking of being ready, I feel like I'm in the final trimester of pregnancy. Well thankfully I don't physically feel it, but emotionally, I am nesting y'all! My wheels are spinning about what needs to done for our home and our family to be ready for Jack. This weekend, we moved the crib into our bedroom:

Jack will sleep there for several weeks while he adjusts. We've read that we will treat him like a newborn those first few weeks in that we will meet his every need 24 hours a day. He has to learn that he can trust us and that we will provide for his needs. He will be going through some pretty big shock - everything will change for him (language, food, smells, people who look different, everything!) so we want to be available to him as he processes things.

We are excited about the auction, our last fundraiser! We are planning on having it Oct. 9 - 16th. It will all be online, so get ready to bid on items and share with your friends. We're counting on your help and trusting God to provide!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

As we wait on Jack's immigration approval, submit our visa paperwork, and do general travel reading/prep, we are also working on one last fundraiser! God has graciously provided for us all along the way and now we only have $5k more to raise (praise him!!). We have really loved seeing God provide the funds and it has encouraged us so much to have our community come around us and cheerfully give to help us bring our son home. Thank you for your sweet generosity! So, what is our last fundraiser....We are going to be doing an online auction! The plan is to have it in October. It will last one week. What we need your help with now is collecting donations. We have been working at night, contacting folks that we know (and many that we don't) that might be willing to help. We've gotten some really great donations- but we need more! We are asking our fellow travelers along this adoption journey to put on their thinking caps and help us come up with some new donations. Here are the categories we are looking for:

Vacation packages: know anyone that has a rental property at the beach, a timeshare, or access to a vacation property that is used for promotional purposes? This would be HUGE.

Restaurant Gift Cards: everyone can help with this- just ask the owner/manager at your favorite restaurant if they would be willing to donate a gift card to the auction. These always sell very well, and would really help!

Sports apparel/memorabilia: have a signed basketball, signed jersey, or collection of bobble-heads you'd like to donate? Do you have a connection with a famous college or pro athlete that might be willing to sign something for us?

Tickets: we are looking for tickets to all kinds of events: football games, basketball games, Broadway shows at DPAC or Raleigh Memorial, movies, concerts....anything would be great! NC State, UNC, Duke....bring it on!

Services: looking for local businesses to donate some of there services- could be a carpet cleaner, masseuse, home cleaner, auto detail shop....anything! Do you have any connections here?

Gift Packages: do you know any small business owners that would donate a small package from their store? Could be a bakery, florist, decor.

Do any of those ring a bell? We'd love to hear from you! We hope to get this auction in front of a lot of people so this would be great advertising - a great way to get some visibility for your company.

We're excited and can't wait to share with you the fun things donated already!